"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas (2002)

Friday, July 1, 2016

Reflection on the crisis in human rights at the United Nations

“It seems to me clear as daylight that abortion would be a crime.” - Mohandas Gandhi

"When filthy abuse by politicians of the vulnerable is tolerated; when the laws – human rights law, refugee law, international humanitarian law – are increasingly violated, and when hospitals are bombed – but no one is punished; When human rights, the two words, are so rarely found in the world of finance and business, in its literature, in its lexicon – why? Because it is shameful to mention them? When working for the collective benefit of all people, everywhere is apparently losing its ardour, and features only in empty proclamations swelling with unjustified self-importance and selfishness."

When the United Nations Human Rights Council and the UN Secretary General pander to politicians who abuse the vulnerable, as has been the high profile cases in Cuba and Venezuela, tolerating their "filthy" behavior then it sets an example reflected elsewhere around the world and belief in an international human rights order is diminished and cynicism becomes the norm in the institution.

Thirdly, the decision to abandon the right to life of the unborn while embracing so-called abortion rights which also opens the intellectual path to defend infanticide is an error of historic proportions. Taking a life can never be a right but at best a necessary evil done in self defense.

Declaring the killing of the unborn a human right is a fundamental contradiction and it has far reaching consequences. This didn't start today but the breakdown of the international human rights consensus was formally manifested 26 years ago with the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam.
The Iranian representative to the United Nations explained that the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights was a "relativistic secular
understanding of the Judeo Christian tradition." However the UN Human
Rights Declaration as initially conceived was not relativistic but over
time human rights mechanisms have engaged in a proliferation of rights that includes "abortion rights" that has led to a breakdown in the 1948 consensus.

Cardinal Martino, who served as the Holy See's permanent observer at the
United Nations, says that this change of position is part of the
"pro-death" agenda in modern culture. The cardinal said that Amnesty
International's decision means Catholics and Catholic organizations
should no longer financially support the group. "The promotion of
abortion opens the door to the slippery slope of evil and death, where
human rights are taken away from the most innocent and vulnerable
children of God," he said. "I believe that, if in fact Amnesty
International persists in this course of action, individuals and
Catholic organizations must withdraw their support."

This culture [of death] is actively fostered by
powerful cultural, economic and political currents which encourage an idea of
society excessively concerned with efficiency. Looking at the situation from
this point of view, it is possible to speak in a certain sense of a war of
the powerful against the weak: a life which would require greater
acceptance, love and care is considered useless, or held to be an intolerable
burden, and is therefore rejected in one way or another. A person who, because
of illness, handicap or, more simply, just by existing, compromises the
well-being or life-style of those who are more favoured tends to be looked upon
as an enemy to be resisted or eliminated. In this way a kind of "conspiracy
against life" is unleashed. This conspiracy involves not only individuals in
their personal, family or group relationships, but goes far beyond, to the point
of damaging and distorting, at the international level, relations between
peoples and States.

This is why "human rights" that are now being used to promote what Pope John Paul II called a "culture of death" has now become a term that some find shameful to mention and it will only
get worse. Declaring that "abortion rights are human rights", as the United Nations has now done is the same kind of doublethink as "War is Peace." This is accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct and this is madness.

Ideas have consequences, especially when they are acted on. The path on which the human rights community has embarked upon is an ongoing disaster. It is not only "abortion rights" but also other controversial issues such as "torture" that are now entertained on the grounds of utility and efficiency.